A photovoltaic collection system is a system that includes one or more photovoltaic cells that generate electric current in response to incident light. Types of photovoltaic collection systems include direct, non-concentrating photovoltaic collection systems that receive incident light directly and generate current. Direct, non-concentrating photovoltaic collection systems typically include large arrays of photovoltaic cells, which may be expensive to manufacture and/or maintain. Another type of photovoltaic collection system is a reflective, concentrating photovoltaic collection system where incident light is reflected and concentrated onto an array of photovoltaic cells. Because the incident light is concentrated on the cells, a smaller array of cells can generate more output power than the same number of photovoltaic cells in a direct, non-concentrating photovoltaic collection system.
The efficiency of both direct and reflective photovoltaic collection systems can be improved by controlling the orientation of the photovoltaic cells and/or the reflectors with respect to the light source. For example, if the light source is the sun, it may be desirable to control the orientation of the photovoltaic collection system to track apparent movement of the sun as the earth spins on its axis and rotates around the sun. If time, position on earth, and orientation of the photovoltaic collection system with regard to the earth's spin axis are known, known ephemerides can be used to control orientation of the photovoltaic collection system in an open loop manner. One problem with such an approach is that one or more of these variables may not be known, making accurate tracking using ephemerides that are based on these variables difficult. Another problem with approaches that require all of these variables to be known is that the equipment or method for determining the variables may unnecessarily increase the cost of the photovoltaic collection system.
Accordingly, in light of these difficulties, there exists the need for methods, systems, and computer readable media for controlling orientation of a photovoltaic collection system to track apparent movement of the sun.